Understanding the purpose of Oedipus the king analysis essay

Posted at 05.26.2017

Sophocles tragedy about Oedipus is an ancient piece of genius writing, where he presented a story of a mythical king, named Oedipus. The story opens metaphorical issues, one of which is blindness. By blindness, Sophocles means the way in which the main character expresses his attitude to the world. The king claims that nobody around him can see what he sees, although the truth is, that Oedipus himself is blind and doesn't understand his place in the world. This is an ancient literature, although it is actual even nowadays, because it describes the wrong perception of life by people in both ancient and contemporary world. Writing Oedipus the king essays foresees that the students understand the main idea of the tragedy and can provide a complex analysis of the issues arisen by Sophocles. Here, you'll find tips that will help you accomplish this assignment.

Before you proceed to the writing itself, you need to make sure you understand what a critical analysis is. This is a genre of essay writing, that is used when you want to provide your evaluation of the piece of literature and determine how good, effective, meaningful it is. It has to demonstrate the overall effectiveness of the tragedy, but the main purpose of critical analysis and your Oedipus the king essay , is to show your ability to work with such serious literature, your comprehension of it, as well your writing, persuasive, argumentative, creative and a number of other skills. Take the following steps and learn how to provide a good analysis and demonstrate the above-listed skills in your Oedipus the king essay .

Read the tragedy in a critical manner. This means that you need to start analyzing from the very beginning of your reading. Define what the Sophocles main idea is and what arguments he uses to prove his main idea.

Write down all the key points of the tragedy. As you read, you need to note every thought that comes to your mind. It will help you when making an outline and writing your essay about Oedipus the king .

Describe the tragedy in your own words. What is your personal impression in regard to the story about Oedipus? What do you think about the manner, in which the tragedy was written What is your personal opinion concerning the main ideas and issues arisen in the tragedy?

Think of the positive and negative aspects of the writing and write them down. It will help choose your position, from which you will analyze the text.

Write down the most significant quotation from the tragedy and those, which made a great impression on you. You may later include them into your critical analysis essay.

Write down your judgment. At the end of the day, decide precisely what you think about the tragedy and evaluate it, paying attention to all the aspects provided above.

Once you have taken all these steps, it is time for picking the precise topic of your paper and proceed to writing.

Write about the metaphorical blindness of the main character, Oedipus, and provide your understanding of it in the light of the plot of the tragedy. Also, you may provide examples from your real life experience.

Provide your personal opinion, whether the life of Oedipus was hard because of his metaphorical blindness or because of bad luck. What was the role of his own decisions in the plot of the tragedy?

What was the importance of fate and its role in the plot of the tragedy? How does Sophocles describe the meaning of fate in the life of everybody? Do you agree or disagree with him?

How do you understand the meaning of the phrase «Oedipus complex»? What does it have to do with the plot of the tragedy and in which way do people face this phenomenon in contemporary world?

How does Sophocles describe the pride and its role in a person's life and behavior? Did the main character have too much pride? Provide examples and quotations directly from the text.

What was the punishment of Oedipus? Do you think of it as a result of his metaphorical blindness and the decisions that he made? Do you think the main character deserves such punishment? Provide strong argumentations.

Think about the selfishness of the main character and provide your opinion in regard to the role of selfishness in the fate of Oedipus. Make parallels with real life, including examples from your personal experience.

What about writing about the innocence of Oedipus? Is there a chance that all the judgments in regard to the main character are wrong? Provide arguments and evidences directly from the text.

Provide a comparison of advantages and disadvantages of the personality of the main character. What does the behavior of Oedipus teach the reader?

What was the role of the dramatic irony in the tragedy? How do you personally understand the expression of dramatic irony in the fate of Oedipus?

Write an essay about the metamorphosis of the main character throughout the plot of the tragedy. How does Oedipus change after certain events? Does he make right conclusions?

What lessons did you learn from the reading of the tragedy? What did Sophocles want to say with his piece of writing? Is the tragedy actual in today's world?

These and many other topics can be covered in your paper. Remember that analysis foresees that you read the assigned piece of literature and payed attention to every detail of the plot, as long as everything can play a significant role in your conclusions in regard to the tragedy.